Today's post starts on a sad note with the news that Davy Jones of the Monkees has passed away. The Monkees was made before I was born, but re-runs meant that I grew up with the Monkees, and cute Davy was my favourite. Daydream Believer, with Davy on lead vocals, is my favourite Monkees song. Thanks to the Monkees for adding some light-hearted fun to our lives.
This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Roasted Salmon and Lentils. It involves cooking green lentils in a vegetable broth, roasting salmon rubbed with oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, and serving the salmon atop the lentils.
It tasted OK - I liked it, but I didn't love it. I also thought the lentils were a bit of a faff, having to be cooked then drained, then partly pureed, then combined again and warmed. You would have to love lentils to find this a rewarding process.
I think we are definitely going to have a split audience this week :-)
ReplyDeleteThis went over shockingly well in our house.
Yes, that was very sad about Davey Jones. I used to watch The Monkeys all the time too. It does sound like you have to do an awful lot to those lentils which in the end, would probably taste no different to a lentil that had been left alone? Shame you found the dish disappointing after all that effort. xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame that the lentils didn't thrill as much as you would want for the work!
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame when you put in a lot of effort for something that doesn't turn out as you expected. Hope the salmon was tasty though.
ReplyDeleteI love this dish, but I do love lentils so that helps. Also, I have cooked lentils a million times in my life and Dorie's was the first recipe I have ever seen which called for them to be par-boiled and then rinsed and boiled again. I'm actually kind of curious as to the reason for this extra step. Maybe one of our fellow FFwD cooks will have the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe multiple steps for the lentils were a bit tedious. I stopped at the puree part because there was no way I was coming back to it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am just that much older that the Monkees' show was running in my pre-teen years and I loved them...Peter was my favorite and I'm A Believer and Last Train To Clarksville were my favorites. Ah...youth! I am cracking up laughing at your entire lentils observations...you have a great sense of humor about these things. I'm so so on lentils. Salmon I love, however! Okay...not such a hit this week...onto next week. You can console yourself with a listen to Daydream Believer!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds kind of high maintenance for lentils. The dish looks great, though. Sorry it was meh!
ReplyDeleteSince i have yet to try lentils I'll wait on this dish.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with the Monkees. We had clubs etc. I was in love with Davy Jones!
Oh gosh. I grew up on Monkees reruns as well. While I didn't have a favorite one, the image of DJ singing and dancing Daydream Believer in the rainbow/striped background is well embedded in my consciousness.
ReplyDeleteI liked that for most part this was an easy recipe with very little prepping. If only I had used the correct legumes. ;-)
Oh i didn't know it was so hard to cook lentils :( Good job for going through all that ! But it looks great ~ I don't really like fish...and salmon one of the types of fish that i like lol
ReplyDeleteMy siblings and I used to watch Monkees reruns, too. We also had their record, which we used to play down in the basement (kids' territory).
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this dish, but my partner would have rathered that the lentils had been a bit simpler.
OK...Now this is really hard for me to admit but, I was around for the original Monkees! Loved Davy Jones...he was my favorite, too!
ReplyDeleteOn to the recipe...I love lentils but I never thought to pair the salmon with them. All and all I thought the dish was very good. I also thought there were too many steps to the lentils!
Every school holiday the BBC would repeat The Monkees tv show - it wouldn't have been the hols without it!
ReplyDeleteOh no, I hadn't heard about Davey Jones. I watched the Monkees reruns too.
ReplyDeleteI like lentils, but I don't know that I'd want to mess around with pureeing them.
I think you could probably save yourself some steps by chopping the veggies ahead of time and then just taking an immersion blender to the whole thing for just a few seconds then you dont have to move things to a different appliance, etc or re-warm :)
ReplyDeleteAlice @ http://acookingmizer.wordpress.com
I love salmon!
ReplyDeleteWe really liked this one. Sorry you didn't care for it. I agree the steps seemed strange and I skipped the puree part.
ReplyDeleteI didn't skip the parboil because that is supposed to help make the lentils more digestible but I did mince my veg and use the immersion blender to partially puree them. Made it much simpler and we loved it.
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